Wednesday Treasures ~ Letters from the Past

 On Thanksgiving day my sister brought me a file folder full of old letters and cards that were among my parents' things she has stored in her home.  What a treasure trove this turned out to be! My mother was great about saving old letters, cards, the grandchildren's drawings, and anything that might have special meaning in the future. Actually at one time, when we had moved away from home, I asked my mother to save my letters and cards for the possibility that someday I might want to write a book about our adventures, and those letters could be so helpful! And so she did.  I don't know if that book will ever get written as I had hoped, but this blog is a kind of a book and probably the closest I will ever get to actually publishing it.  Without going into too much laborious detail from all the letters, I will just share some pictures of them with you...

So now you can understand why these were so special...Who could throw those away? I sure can't...

And the letters tell all about our living in Ohio while hubby was attending seminary.  It was quite an adventure for our little family...first snow! First time so far away from home for Thanksgiving and Christmas with our three little kids. Everyday was something new.   

I have copied a previous blog post, written many years ago, here for you today. This story tells about our first Christmas in that very house where we were living where all of the above letters/pictures, etc. were written and sent home to my parents. I thought you might enjoy reading it again if you haven't seen it before.  

Original Post written in 2013:

This is an excerpt from my writings about our early years in the ministry...when we had moved all the way to Ohio from Florida so my husband could attend seminary...and we were a very long way from home for Christmas....and a bit homesick (at least I was...don't think the rest of the family even noticed!)

“I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas…”

Psalm 145: 15-16  “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season.  You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

Our first Christmas so far away from home was on its way.  Although we were happy in our home and our work, and John was doing well in Seminary, we missed being near our family for the holidays.  We had managed to get through Thanksgiving by being with other families in our church.  But Christmas was different…everyone had their own extended families to be with and we really didn't want to intrude on that.  We had met another Pastor and family at a conference who also were far away from their own relatives. So we invited them to come have Christmas dinner with us.  They accepted the invitation very graciously. 

Christmas morning arrived cold and gray.  The forecast did not call for snow, but possibly just rain and dreariness!  I was a bit disappointed because I had really been looking forward to having a white Christmas.  But we put on the Christmas music, opened our gifts, and I started getting ready for our company to arrive before noon for dinner.  Around 11:00 a.m. the phone rang, and it was our guests calling to tell us that their children had awakened with the flu, and they would not be able to travel to our home after all! Talk about disappointed!  Of course I understood their situation and certainly did not want them to travel to our house when they were sick, but now what were we going to do?  I just couldn’t imagine having Christmas Dinner alone!  I was having myself quite a pity party as I started slamming pots and pans around in the kitchen and putting back the good china and pretty dishes I had planned to use to serve our guests.  

John and the boys were perfectly happy, perhaps even relieved! 

John and the boys in their jammies, enjoying Christmas
morning...showing off their new headgear and toy guns.

They really did not want to have to clean up the living room and put away their new toys to make room for strangers!  I realized that I was the only one who wanted to have company anyway!

As the hot tears stole down my cheeks, I stood staring out the bay window in our dining room, feeling very sorry for myself.  Suddenly I noticed something different outside our window…something white and light and fluffy descending out of the sky!  It was snowing!  The snow came down haltingly at first, and then in a great flurry of excitement it started accumulating on the windowsill and the ground!  It was beautiful and clean and bright, and my whole countenance lit up as I began to sing and dance and clap my hands in pure joy at this delightful turn of events! We were having a white Christmas after all! I danced back into the kitchen and started getting the good china and silverware back out of the cupboard, and setting the table with the prettiest things I could find!  I realized that my own precious family was the most special and deserved to have the best Christmas ever!  I started singing Christmas Carols and soon the whole family joined in.  As we gathered around the table that Christmas Day we celebrated with the true Spirit of Christmas in our hearts!

Christmas Dinner...boys still in jammies, but
we have the candles lit, and the good china set out!

John  and boys waiting to start eating!
"Could we dispense with the pictures already?"
John seems to be saying...

And after dinner was over...there I am, out enjoying the beautiful snow!

“Joy to the World! The Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;

            Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing,

            And heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing!”

So...all's well that ends well...we had a perfect

Christmas after all...and it was a WHITE CHRISTMAS to boot! 

And I learned a valuable lesson...spending time with my own dear family and making happy memories together...regardless of where we are or whatever disappointments may come our way...those are the moments that define and bind us with cords of love that are not easily broken when the real difficult times come along. I'm glad I learned that early on. 

Back to the present:  And so thus ends another chapter in the lives of our little family. I hope you enjoyed this little walk down memory lane with me to explore more of my "Wednesday Treasures".

Hug your own family a little tighter this Christmas, and don't allow anything to keep you from making memories as a family, one way or another...even if it has to be via "Zoom", take the time to make the call...Be present in any way possible.  Oh...and keep writing those letters and sending those cards...Christmas cards, Birthday Cards, Anniversary Cards...someday the written notes and letters and drawings will be the only real tangible memory left that we actually existed. Don't rely on technology/social media or even photographs that aren't printed but stored on flash drives  or in your computer to be around when you are gone. Technology changes...what we store on flash drives today won't fit into what they have in the future.  The written word, printed photos, cards...are all that will remain to tell your story. Trust me...I am trying to research my family genealogy. If it weren't for written records, Census Records, diaries, journals, photographs...there would be no way to tell the story of the past.  So go ahead...write that Christmas letter and put it in a pretty card! Your life matters!!